1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compact disk carrying cases for storing and carrying a plurality of compact disks and methods of making the same, and in particular embodiments, to folding compact disk carrying cases and a method of making the same, wherein the cases are formed of a plurality of individual layers of material configured to be readily assembled and bonded together with a single stitching (or other suitable bonding) operation.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of compact disk carrying cases have been developed to store and transport compact digital audio disks or compact disks. A compact disk (or other optical disk storage device) generally has an optical surface which stores audio digital data and a printed surface which carries indicia, e.g., for the identifying the stored data.
A common problem associated with compact disk (or other optical disk) storage devices is that the data retrieving quality may be adversely affected by scratches and/or dust accumulated on the optical surface. Accordingly, disk carrying cases have been designed with a plurality of casings or storage spaces, each provided with a protective lining for contacting the optical surface of a stored disk.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,731, issued to Youngs employ a protective lining 26 of nonwoven fabric. Within each storage pocket of a multiple storage pocket device for storing a plurality of compact disks. Youngs' compact disk carrying device is generally configured in a note book shape, with a plurality of pages or leaves defining storing casings or pockets stacked one on top of the other.
While Youngs' compact disk carrying case is capable of carrying many compact disks, a user is not able to see the printed surface of all of the stored disks at a glance. As a result, the user may have to flip through page after page to find a desired one of the compact disks stored therein. This process may be undesirable, for example, in a situation wherein the user is operating a motor vehicle and wishes to select a compact disk to insert into the vehicles disk playing device.
In addition, each of Youngs' plural pages or leaves is formed of multiple layers of materials bonded together. Youngs' device, thus, requires a relatively large number of bonding steps, which could result in relatively high manufacturing costs. Various other multiple page disk storage devices, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. Des 319,345, to Rayburn, or U.S. Pat. No. Des 323,428, to Wang, suffer from similar problems.